Reversal
Title: Reversal
Pairing(s): Jongin/Kyungsoo, slight!Minseok/Luhan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: fluff, romance
Length: one-shot
Summary: Kim Jongin went from I don't want to eat with that hyung to I think I'm in love with that hyung.
Note: First posted on AFF, hooray!!!
Everyone knows Kim Jongin. He is SM’s top rookie, everyone expects him to become the golden boy once he debuts. Jongin is well aware of this title. And it burdens him so much, making him spend hours well above expected in the practice room. His best friend, Taemin, always tries to get him out more to spend time with the other trainees. Taemin is busy touring with his group, having debuted earlier than Jongin, and he wants Jongin to build friendships with the trainees who he’s possibly debuting with. Sure, Jongin is friends with Sehun and Moonkyu, both being his schoolmates as well. But other than that, Jongin is anything but a social butterfly. So when the company calls him for a meeting, he finds Taemin a lot more nervous than he is.
“Jonginnie, please smile more okay? If you don’t, they’ll think you’re a snob. And you wouldn’t want that, they’ll hate your guts. They’ll think you're spoi-“
Jongin covers his best friends mouth, shutting him up temporarily, “Don’t worry about me, I can handle this.”
He leaves Taemin at the practice room after assuring him that he knows what he has to do. He slowly turns the knob of the conference room, and he finds eleven pairs of eyes directed at him. He immediately lights up when he sees Sehun and Moonkyu seated at the other side of the room. The others eye him curiously, some meticulously, recognizing who he is.
“He’s the golden boy.” He hears a boy with disastrous ramen hair and huge ears whisper to a delicate looking chinky eyed boy.
He sighs, knowing he’ll never live that title down. He knows that he’ll never get that burden off his shoulder, and he’ll always have to prove himself to all the people around him, even his future members.
The meeting goes by quickly. All the boys in the room buzzing with excitement, knowing that they’ll be debuting in a year or probably less. Jongin reminds himself constantly of Taemin’s words, directing smiles at the other members, and using honorifics after finding out that he was the second youngest.
“Jongin?” a boy who was unusually pale and seemingly familiar asks him.
He nods quickly and gives the other a small bow, remembering that the person talking to him was Junmyeon. Junmyeon is a couple of years ahead of him and entered the company earlier than he did. Jongin remembers being introduced to him, but their paths didn’t cross often enough for them to be close to each other.
He is surprised when the other pats his shoulder and gives him a sincere smile, “You can call me Junmyeon hyung is that’s okay with you. I hope we can be good friends.”
Jongin is touched by the gesture. Usually, other trainees would be intimidated by him and choose not to talk to him after introductions. But the smile on Junmyeon’s face tells Jongin that the boy was sincerely concerned about the group. The boy exudes so much maturity, and Jongin admires him for that, remembering that the other was to be one of the leaders of the group.
“Thank you, hyung?” Jongin says with uncertainty, overwhelmed with the social interaction.
He jumps when someone tackles him from behind, Sehun and Moonkyu buzzing with excitement and happiness. Two other boys trail behind them, and Jongin remembers them as the two boys whispering about him. The two seemed very close, Jongin notes. The taller’s arms drapes over the smaller’s shoulders. The six of them were to the members of the Korean subgroup, with their counterparts being Chinese (excluding two). Introductions were thrown around, and Jongin’s worries immediately vanish.
(◉♡◉)
Three months pass without a hitch, the group was bonding quite well. But all of them receive a shock when Moonkyu decides to leave the company. Jongin knows it’s because of the pressure. Moonkyu is known for his free-spirit, and the company’s ways of disciplining them restricts him like a caged bird. Jongin remembers seeing the signs. While Jongin embraces the disciplinary measures that he knows would lead him to the perfection he’s aiming for, Moonkyu finds the idea of this as suffocating, stripping him of his freedom.
The other boys take a while for the information to sink in. But they understood. Knowing that the pressure is really on their shoulders. They are the company’s biggest project after all.
But the problem they are facing is finding a replacement. They need someone who was capable of filling the spot that Moonkyu left. The other members worry that they can’t find someone in time, but Jongin thinks otherwise. Knowing that the company is very capable of coming up with someone from the large pool of rookies waiting for their turns to bask under the spot light.
Jongin enters the practice room and notices the boys crowding at the center, surrounding someone he couldn’t see from where he was standing.
“Jongin! We’ll introduce you to Kyungsoo!”
Kyungsoo. The name sounds familiar to Jongin. He remembers hearing a conversation about the boy. The boy’s training is longer than some of the members of the group. The boy is the 13th option, some say, but the others say that the boy was talented enough to debut alone. But from what Jongin heard, the boy is someone people should watch out for.
What he didn’t hear is the fact that the boy had the most piercing eyes. And those eyes are staring right at him. He tries to hold the other’s gaze, but he ends up looking away. He isn’t scared, he tells himself. He's just really socially awkward, he thinks.
He approaches slowly, directing his gaze anywhere but on the boy. The closer he gets, the darker and bigger the boy’s eyes get.
“Hi-“ Kyungsoo says, his eyes looking straight through Jongin’s soul.
Jongin says the same, immediately directing his eyes to the floor. The excitement drowns out the awkwardness of the introduction, and the other boys immediately start fussing over Kyungsoo.
He’s cute, Jongin thinks. Except that he looks like he wants to kill me, a voice in his head adds.
Jongin tries to forget about the scary hyung, and for the rest of the training he focuses on the dances they have yet to perfect.
The training finishes almost immediately, much to Jongin’s relief. He is dead tired and wants nothing but the comfort of his bed.
But the boys have other plans, “Jongin! Let’s have dinner to welcome Kyungsoo to the group!”
Jongin immediately freezes, “I don’t want to eat with that hyung!”
Chanyeol does nothing but laugh at him, “Idiot, you won’t be saying that months from now!”
And Chanyeol is right, in the next few months, Jongin will stick to that hyung’s hip.
(◉♡◉)
“Jongin!”
The pain Jongin is feeling overrode his senses. He’s been in the practice room for more than 6 hours trying to perfect the solo he will be performing at their debut showcase when something on his hip popped. It isn’t his first injury, but it is definitely the most painful.
Jongin sees from his peripheral vision a frantic Kyungsoo. He is shocked to see the boy, thinking that he already left with the others earlier. He realizes that Kyungsoo also stayed behind, probably locking himself in the vocal room. Jongin is still avoiding the other, still scared by the looks the boy gives him. But the same boy he’s avoiding is now in front of him, eyes laced with concern.
“Jongin! Jongin, are you okay? I heard a loud thump, and wait, you’re hurt!” Kyungsoo panics, without noticing that Jongin is just staring at him with awe.
Jongin squints a bit when Kyungsoo exerts pressure on his left hip, “Hyung…”
Jongin suddenly realizes the repercussions of an injury and feels like crying. Teasers have been and are still being released, and Jongin is in most of them. Being injured risks his chances of performing.
Jongin feels arms enveloping him and realizes they were Kyungsoo’s.
“I- I don’t know what say, and I know you’re worried. Please don’t be, you’ll be okay.” Kyungsoo whispers, only audible enough for Jongin to hear.
Jongin immediately misses the warmth when Kyungsoo lets go. He almost forgets the pain, but Kyungsoo shocks him back to reality when he touches Jongin’s injured hip again.
“I don’t think you broke anything, but you might have pulled a muscle? Let’s go home. Taozi or Yixing hyung might have something for that.” Kyungsoo rambles.
“Hyung?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
(◉♡◉)
“I- I think I’m in love with Kyungsoo hyung…”
Sehun and Tao clap like mad men, obviously excited with the things that were about to occur. Baekhyun, on the other hand, looks like he’s about to cry, taking out his wallet and giving Chanyeol a couple of bills.
“We know! Gosh, Jongin. Took you long enough!” Luhan says from across the table.
They’re in EXO-K’s dorm, Jongin calling for a meeting while Kyungsoo is in talks for a new drama he is being casted in.
Jongin covers his face in embarrassment, his members are not making anything easier.
“Remember the time right before our debut, they snuck out of the dorm and went to a café. Have you seen the photos surfacing online? They looked like a couple even then,” Jongdae quips, laughing like a mad at the expense of the two.
Kris, who usually just listens and watches their banter, laughs and adds, “Well, they act like a couple. Jongin, I don’t think you were being subtle at all.”
“Yah! I called you all here to help me!” Jongin says, a pout playing on his lips.
Minseok, who’s seated on Luhan’s lap, suddenly says, “Just tell him, Jongin. Luhan just told me, and that went well,” gesturing at how they were seated.
It’s true though. His hyungs have been together for a while already. They act like best friends on screen, but when they’re at the dorms, they go all out on the PDA.
Even Chanyeol and Baekhyun are the same, only they’re flashy on and off screen.
So he listens when they tell him what to do, after all, he doesn’t have anything to lose.
(◉♡◉)
Jongin can’t stay still. He fidgets on his seat, then he stands up and walks around. The cycle continues on until Sehun gets annoyed and pushes him down on his chair.
“God Jongin, sit the hell down!”
Jongin thinks he looks like a mess, because he’s sweating like a mad man and-
His train of thought is cut short when his phone buzzes, signaling that Kyungsoo’s coming really soon.
“Sehun. Sehun! Do you think he’ll like it? Is my hair okay? Is my shirt clean? Is there something between my teeth?” Jongin is panicking, and panicking Jongin is never a good thing.
Sehun holds both his shoulders and motions him to take deeps breaths.
“Yah! Jongin, Kyungsoo hyung will be here in two minutes, he’ll like it. You look fine. Okay?”
When Jongin visibly calms down, Sehun leaves him there. Kyungsoo arrives minutes later.
Kyungsoo’s shocked face is the first thing that Jongin sees. He sees Kyungsoo’s eyes water. The expression on his face goes from shocked, to happy, and finally settles at confused.
“Jongin?”
“Hyung.”
“What is this?” Kyungsoo says, gesturing at the whole set up.
There were flower petals and candles that were scattered on the practice room’s floor. Petals and candles that they had to smuggle into the building.
“Hyung. Hyung. Hyung.”
Jongin’s steps were heavy. His eyes were glued to those that still pierced through his soul and saw through all burden he was carrying. Those eyes that used to scare the hell out him are now the eyes that carry him through the grueling days of training. Those eyes always find him when he’s lost and lead him back home. Those eyes see beyond Kai, SM’s golden boy. Those eyes see every inch of the real him. Those eyes know Jongin, inside and out.
They are inches apart when Jongin finally says it out loud, “I love you, hyung.”
The eyes stare at him. Looking at his, looking for the sincerity and glistening after finding it. A smile is plastered on the others face, his eyes brightening.
“Really? SM’s golden boy is in love with the hyung he didn’t want to eat with?” Kyungsoo quips, teasing the younger.
“Hyuuuuung!!!” Jongin whines, remembering that he’ll never live down that moment down.
Kyungsoo takes him by surprise by wrapping his arms around Jongin’s waist, “I think I love the golden boy too though.”
Jongin directs his eyes at Kyungsoo’s and sees that despite what he says. He’s not in love with Kai, the golden boy. He’s in love with Jongin, the weird and dorky Jongin.